


Gunshots

by WatchforWitches



Series: Whumptober 2019 [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Depiction of war, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sad Magnus, Whumptober 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 17:34:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20911451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatchforWitches/pseuds/WatchforWitches
Summary: Alec finds Magnus in his office in the middle of the night with the picture of George after a nightmare.





	Gunshots

**Author's Note:**

> For Whumptober 2019 day 5 Gunpoint. I hope you enjoy!

It was late at night, or really early morning, Alec wasn't sure. He knew he had fallen asleep with Magnus next to him, and woken up alone in bed. Deciding to give into his worry, he gets up and picks a shirt up off the floor, and starts into the loft. 

Checking the usual spots turns up nothing, and Alec starts to actually worry about things bigger than nightmares. He fights the urge to draw his bow or find one of his hidden seraphs, continuing on through the loft. 

Magnus was in his office. Alec doesn't know why he didn't check there first, really. Magnus was holding something in his hands, and once Alec was closer he realized what it was. It was the small photograph that Alec had found years ago, that he'd seen a couple of times since. It was the small photograph of George. 

Alec raps his knuckles on the doorway, nonverbal in his greetings but greeting nonetheless. "Sorry did I wake you?" Magnus asks, putting the photo down now. 

"No," Alec tells him, moving into the room now, "Just wanted to make sure you were alright."

Magnus accepts Alec's hand and let himself be led to the small loveseat armchair in the room, taking the photo with him. "I'm alright," Magnus tells him, "I just had a dream." 

"About George?" Alec asks carefully. Long gone were the days that Alec was jealous in a way for these memories Magnus carried. They were apart of him, and Alec understood why, understood the weight of memory.

"Sort of," Magnus nods, "It was all the same, but his face was all wrong. I think I forgot what he looked like exactly." Magnus raises the photo as if to explain why he was looking at it in wake of this information. "It was his death." 

Alec squeezed his hand, "Do you want to talk about it? We don't have to but sometimes it helps." 

Magnus gives Alec a soft smile, reaching up to place a hand on Alec's cheek. "We were ambushed. We were broken up into small groups, and ours got too close to enemy lines. They held us at gunpoint, I thoughy they would kill us all. But they took George, dragged him a few feet away from the rest of the team. They shot him point blank and threw his body aside. I don't remember much after that, I strangled the life out of all of them." Magnus' eyes are dark, lost himself in the memory. "George's body laying in no man's land was the last thing I saw before I disappeared."

Alec doesn't know what to say. He knows the whiplash of watching someone die, knows what it feels like to see someone alive one second, dead the next. But he can't pretend to know what it's like to lose someone that close to you in such a horrific way. He knows Magnus has experienced it more than once, more than he should have had to. "I'm sorry," he tells him honestly. 

"George was a painter," Magnus tells him, "I don't think I've ever told you that. He got drafted along with everyone else, of course, but he wanted to be an artist. He used to tell me how after the war he was going to go home to his studio, and that he was going to paint the landscapes we fought in. It was going to be a post war collection, he was really excited about it." Magnus laughed lightly at the thought, "He used to talk about painting me, whenever the war was finished. He never got to see the end of the war. None of those paintings were ever painted." 

"They would have been gorgeous," Alec tells him, because he believes it, because he wants to help. 

"He didn't know I was immortal. It's difficult to live through war after war. Mundanes never learn their own lessons. Beautiful souls like George pay the price for it." Magnus shakes his head, "It's just disappointing." 

"It's not fair." Alec agrees, knowing the cost of wars like that, studying them, living them. "George deserved better. But you did what you could, he knew he was loved greatly. I'm sure of it." 

Magnus nods at this, wiping away one stray tear from his cheek. "Let's go to bed Alexander," he says, getting up and putting the photo of George back into the box on his shelf. 

"Okay," Alec goes along with him, following him through the loft back into the bedroom. 

He had loved Magnus for enough years to know that sometimes he couldn't say anything to help. Sometimes things were just sad and couldn't be made any better no matter what Alec said. He stayed by Magnus' side during these times, and hoped that it was enough. 

Magnus burrowed into Alec's hold once they returned to bed. Alec moved so his arms were around Magnus, and when he heard a sniffling he just squeezed him closer. 

Magnus' history would always be this large open wound. Sometimes it hurt more than others, sometimes it was softer and quiet. But Alec would be with him, no matter what.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos, comments and feedback greatly appreciated! I hope you enjoyed


End file.
